Charles Street bike path finished

Saturday

It wasn’t too long ago that Charles Street forced bicyclists and pedestrians to hug the gravel on the side of the road, between a drainage ditch and the trucks and cars going 45 mph.

It wasn’t too long ago that Charles Street forced bicyclists and pedestrians to hug the gravel on the side of the road, between a drainage ditch and the trucks and cars going 45 mph.

But now they have a completed multiuse path to get from Alpine Road to CherryVale Mall.

Local leaders celebrated the opening of the last phase Friday, finishing what’s been more than 13 years in the making.

“It’s getting people off the road ... a safe distance from the road,” said Winnebago County Board member Bob Kinnison, a longtime advocate for the project. “You’ll see me out there as well.”

The 2.6-mile path was built by county officials in phases, with previous sections opening in 1996 and 2000. Last year, officials lowered the speed limit on the road to 35 mph and prohibited nonlocal truck traffic.

The newly finished path will eventually connect to future bike paths along Bell School Road and Harrison Avenue, which in turn will connect to other paths in the county.

The more connections there are, the more people will bike, said Larry Hemmens, member of the Blackhawk Bicycle and Ski Club and the Rock Cut Trail Crew.

Hemmens braved the rain to bike down the path to Friday’s celebration. Before the path was finished, he had to get to Cherry Valley by biking across busy Harrison Avenue.

Hemmens said club members will use the path to get to bike rides that start in Cherry Valley.

“People like to bike, but they can’t get from point A to point B,” he said. “You don’t want to put your bike in your car and drive it five minutes and take it back out.”

The path also will help people get from southeast Rockford to CherryVale Mall and the other businesses in that area. It’ll be followed by other connections to Harrison Avenue, Bell School
Road and Perryville Road.

“You basically can circumvent the whole city of Rockford,” said Wayne Vlk, assistant county engineer. “You can get into Rock Cut State Park and basically all the way up to South Beloit by bike path.”

County and Rockford city officials also try to install bike paths whenever they do a major road reconstruction, making up for what they admit had been decades of ignoring the needs of bicyclists and pedestrians.